Community Youth Mapping

The DC Children & Youth Investment Trust Corporation, on behalf of the DC Community Youth Mapping Advisory Committee, and with the help of the Academy of Educational Development (AED) will be leading a Community Youth Mapping process in Washington DC neighborhoods.  Community Youth Mapping is young people gathering information by locating and documenting “places to go and things to do” in their communities.  Youth Mapping involves young people canvassing neighborhood block by block, in search of programs, services, opportunities and caring adults available to them and their peers.  “Youth Mappers” become local ethnographers – asking and answering questions – providing their own insight into the definition and identification of community resources for youth and families.  The Academy for Educational Development’s Center for Youth Development and Policy Research has facilitated training for over thirty sites nationwide in the Community YouthMapping process.

Why?
Young people in Washington DC and many other cities in our nation are finding it difficult to gain access to information about “places to go and things to do” during unstructured times.  While there may be many positive community supports and opportunities for young people, we are finding that young people define resources a little differently than adults.  Young people don’t only look at services as resources but extend that definition to: 

• Opportunities: for formal and informal chances to learn, develop new skills, help others, belong and be a member, serve the community and be employed.
• Places to Go: any location within a community that provides a safe and fun place for young people to meet and participate in structured activities.
• Caring Adults: adult community residents to whom young people can go for advice, sharing ideas and work together, being respected and not feared, being spoken with and not spoken for, get understanding and caring.

Who?
The young people who make up our Youth Mappers are 16 to 18 year olds that come from a number of local community based organizations 
in Washington.

How?
Young people will walk block by block and use surveys to gather the information on local resources for children, youth and families in Washington DC neighborhoods.

You've been Mapped!